Almost Gone
by skyechild
Summary: What was going through the viking's heads as they were watching Hiccup battle the Red Death? What happened after Stoick and Gobber realized that Hiccup was missing a leg?
1. Chapter 1

Here is chapter one~ I do not own How To Train Your Dragon, I'm just in love with it. Hope you enjoy! :)

It wasn't a good feeling knowing that your son was on the back of a dragon that no one has ever seen before. It definitely wasn't a good feeling seeing him ride the dragon while battling the queen dragon, the biggest and scariest dragon any Viking has ever seen. All anyone could do was watch from the ground as the village misfit battled this thing. No Viking has ever felt so useless.

Stoick's heart was racing. Either Hiccup was going to manage to defeat this beast, or he was going to die trying. Odin help him.

The Vikings began to panic when they lost sight of Hiccup and the beast in the clouds. Did the queen dragon eat them? Suddenly, there were flashes in the sky. They could make out the figures of Hiccup and his dragon next to the beast. Everyone held their breath because they had no idea what was about to happen next.

The vikings watched as the queen came out of the clouds and crashed head first into the ground. A giant fiery explosion occurred and no one could see a thing. The beast was definitely dead. Was Hiccup? No one knew if Hiccup fell into the fire or if he was still in the sky on the Night Fury. Right as the fire died down, Stoick took off into the smoke to find Hiccup.

"Hiccup!" Stoick yelled as he looked all over. "HICCUP! SON!" Then, he spotted the Night Fury. He ran over to him. He dragon was out cold. Stoick noticed that he was missing a part of his tail. Worst of all, there was no rider on him or anywhere near him. Stoick realized that Hiccup was dead.

"Oh son." Stoick knelt down onto the ground. "I did this." He whispered to himself. All of the Vikings slowly gathered around Stoick and the dragon. They quickly understood that Stoick wasn't able to find Hiccup. He was dead.

The dragon started to come to. He opened his eyes and looked at Stoick.

"I'm so...I'm so sorry." Stoick said to the dragon. Sorrow filled the chief as he thought about the fact that he would never see his son again. Then, the dragon shifted and began to open his wings. Inside of his wings was the body of the 15 year old boy.

"Hiccup!" Stoick said with a hint of hope. He quickly grabbed him, threw his helmet off, and put his ear to Hiccup's chest to listen for life. There it was, the faint sound of Hiccup's heart beating. Stoick was filled with joy.

"He's alive, you brought him back alive!" Stoick exclaimed. He stared at Hiccup for a moment. His little Hiccup managed to defeat the scariest dragon Vikings have ever seen AND he managed to stay alive. All of the Vikings cheered. Who knew that the village screw up would end up being the hero? No one saw that one coming.

Stoick laid a hand on the dragon's head. "Thank you for saving my son." He said kindly. Gobber came over and saw Hiccup. "Well, most of him." He said. Stoick was confused. Most of him? He looked down at Hiccup's legs. One was missing.

"I need a doctor!" Stoick yelled. None of the other Vikings knew what was going on. The doctor ran out of the crowd and over to where Stoick was sitting with Hiccup and Gobber.

"There ya are. It looks like tha dragon bit his leg off." Gobber told the doctor. There were teeth marks in Hiccup's skin above the stump. Blood was gushing everywhere. The doctor ripped a piece of cloth from his own shirt and tied it around the stump as tight as he could to stop the bleeding.

"We need to cut more of his leg off, up to his shin. It's destroyed." The doctor said. Stoick got worried. He told Gobber to tell the other Vikings to begin repairing the ships.

Gobber did what the chief told him to do. "Don't just stand there, start workin on those ships! They aren't gonna repair themselves!" Gobber yelled as he walked over to the Vikings. They immediately got to work, except Astrid.

"Gobber, what's wrong with Hiccup?" She asked, looking very concerned.

"The poor boy lost his leg. That beast of his bit it right off." Gobber told Astrid.

"His name is Toothless." Astrid told Gobber. She didn't like hearing him call Toothless a beast.

"Doesn't seem very toothless to me." Gobber said. He walked over to the chief and left Astrid to worry about Hiccup's wellbeing.

"The men are hopping right to it." Gobber informed the chief.

"Good. Hiccup needs to get home right away." Stoick said. "Start a fire and get me a sword. We gotta cut the rest of this off."

"Let's find a better place to put him first." Suggested Gobber. They found an area with a large flat rock. Stoick laid Hiccup down on it and straightened out his damaged leg. Thank Odin Hiccup was unconscious for this.

Gobber got a fire started and Stoick gave his sword to the doctor. Stoick was used to seeing blood and mangled body parts, but he just couldn't bare seeing his own child's. There was no way he could bring himself to bring that sword down to finish the job.

The doctor heated the sword in the fire. Even he was a bit nervous for this. He has only been a doctor for about a year and he has only had to do this once before. It wasn't easy.

Stoick held Hiccup down in case the sudden pain would wake him up and make him jump and scream. It has happened before. The doctor got into position and raised the sword above his head. Stoick closed his eyes as the doctor brought the sword down onto Hiccup's leg. Hiccup's eyes shot open and he screamed louder than Stoick has ever heard anyone scream. Stoick actually struggled to hold Hiccup down. He continued to scream and move until the pain caused him to slip back out of consciousness. The doctor tied the cloth back around Hiccup's stump. He managed to do a pretty good job. It was a nice clean cut. Stoick then took off his fur cloak and wrapped Hiccup in it.

"What's the word on those ships?" Stoick demanded.

"I overheard some of the men say that one should be done by night fall." Gobber reported. Then, Astrid came running over.

"Astrid, help the doctor with whatever he needs, Gobber and I need to help with those ships."

"Sure thing." Astrid responded. The chief and his best friend took off to help the other Vikings.

"Is there anything you need?" Astrid asked the doctor.

"Water. Lots of it." He responded. Astrid ran onto one of the burned ships to fetch a barrel of water. She struggled to bring it back to the spot where Hiccup was because of how heavy it was, but she managed. The doctor cut the top off of the barrel with a sword and dipped a clean cloth into it. He placed it on Hiccup's head.

"He's already getting a fever. That's not a good sign." The doctor told Astrid. She began to worry. His bleeding had slowed down, but he looked awful. The doctor then took another piece of cloth, dipped it in the water, and began washing away all of the blood. Astrid ran off and grabbed another barrel of water just in case. She noticed that one of the ships was very close to being finished. Stoick looked like a madman trying to finish that boat as fast as he could.

Astrid returned with another barrel of water and noticed that Hiccup was extremely pale. He lost so much blood. She placed the barrel next to the other one and sat next to Hiccup. "Don't worry Hiccup, you'll be home soon." She whispered to him.


	2. Chapter 2

One of the ships was finally ready. The sun had just gone down and it was getting harder to see. Some of the vikings went around and put logs into the ground to use as large torches and had the dragons that were there light them on fire so they could have some light. Stoick was impressed that it only took them a few hours to patch up a ship that was damaged very badly. He told the men to load the ship with barrels of water and some weapons, just in case.

Stoick went over to where Hiccup was laying with the doctor and Astrid. He was still unconscious. The doctor had been continuously cleaning and rewrapping Hiccup's leg while Astrid kept a cool cloth on Hiccup's head.

"A ship is ready. I want you and Astrid to come on board. We leave in a few minutes." Stoick told the doctor. He went around and gathered a small group of men to take back to the island. Gobber was one of them. The rest of the vikings would stay and finish up with the other boats.

Stoick went back over to Hiccup and picked him up. Astrid jumped up and followed Stoick and the doctor to the ship. She was glad that they finished fixing it so fast.

"Astrid, go find Toothless. I think he's with Snotlout and the others." Stoick demanded. She immediately took off running to get him. Stoick gently placed Hiccup down on a small bed that they quickly threw together for him. Hiccup let out a soft moan and Stoick looked at him. He was very pale. Stoick wrapped his cloak tighter around him to make sure that he stayed warm. He then made sure that everything was all set and that the men he selected were on the ship. Astrid wasn't back yet. What was taking her so long?

"His leg is gone." Astrid told the teens.

"Awesome! He's so lucky." Ruffnut said.

"Not really. If we don't get him back to Berk, he's going to die." Astrid said.

"Then hurry up and take this dragon to the ship. Us manly vikings have some work to do." Snotlout said. The teens decided to go off and try and make themselves useful. Astrid got Toothless to stand up and follow her. He hasn't really moved since he crashed into the ground. Toothless was in pain, but he wanted to get to his rider. The vikings wouldn't let him near Hiccup since they found out he was missing a leg.

They finally reached the ship. Toothless could smell Hiccup. He could smell blood. He shoved Astrid out of the way and ran over to Hiccup. Why was he sleeping? The doctor was re-wrapping Hiccup's leg. The old wrappings were covered in blood. Toothless got worried. Astrid ran over to calm Toothless down.

"Toothless, it's okay. We're doing the best we can. Calm down, we're going home. He will get better." Astrid assured Toothless. He calmed down and laid next to Hiccup. His ears perked up when he heard Stoick yell to the vikings on the island to push the ship. He felt the movement of the boat and knew that they had just begun sailing. Astrid was happy that they were finally on their way home. She had suggested bringing Hiccup back to the island on a dragon, but Stoick didn't like that idea. They would have to wait and sail back.

The only thing giving the vikings light on the ship was the dimly lit torches. Stoick hoped that they wouldn't get lost on the way back to Berk. It was too dark to see anything. Then, Stoick had an idea. He walked over to where the dragon was laying with Hiccup.

"Hey, Dragon." Stoick said to Toothless.

"His name is Toothless, chief. He responds better to that." Astrid informed Stoick.

"Okay, Toothless. Can you lead us home?" He asked. Toothless looked at Stoick. He understood what the man said, but he wasn't sure if he trusted him. It was his fault that they were in this mess.

"Come on, Toothless. We need your help so we can save Hiccup." Astrid said. Toothless took a moment, and then stood up. The chief was surprised that the Night Fury understood what he had said. Dragons were smarter than he thought.

"Thank you, Toothless." Stoick said. Toothless gave Stoick a dirty look, but Stoick couldn't really see it. They sailed off into the darkness and followed the directions that Toothless gave them. He would turn his head and grunt in the direction in which they were supposed to turn.

Stoick left the men to steer and follow Toothless' directions. He walked over to Hiccup and sat down next to him.

"How is he doing?" Stoick asked.

"The bleeding in his leg slowed down, but it's still going. He may have a few broken bones. We'll have to check on those when we get to Berk. He's had a fever going for a while now. Hopefully that will go away soon because that is not a very good sign." The doctor informed Stoick. He sighed. None of this would have happened if he would have just heard what Hiccup had to say in the Great Hall. Stoick had spent so many years trying to find that nest and get rid of it. When Hiccup told him how to find it, his mind went blank. He only focused on getting there. He didn't even think of a good plan. He almost got all of his men killed. Worst of all, he almost got his own child killed. Hiccup saved the entire island of Berk and he was the one who paid the price.

"I know that look. Stop beating yerself up over this Stoick. What's done is done." Gobber said as he walked over.

"I should have listened to him." Stoick said in a quiet voice.

"This battle would have happened one way or another." Astrid said. "Even if you had taken the time to listen to Hiccup, we still would have come over here and fought that beast. Hiccup still would have been the one to save the day. He has a Night Fury for Thor's sake. But Gobber is right, what's done is done. Now all we have to do is move forward." Stoick took what Astrid had said in for a moment. She and Gobber were right. When Hiccup woke up, Stoick would have to focus on fixing their relationship. That wasn't going to be easy.

"I wonder how long it's going to take for everyone to get used to living with dragons." Gobber said.

"I'm sure it won't take too long. We've been fighting them our whole lives so it is going to take some time, but I'm sure once everyone sees that they can be friendly, they will adjust." Astrid said. Gobber and Stoick agreed.

Stoick placed a fresh cold cloth on Hiccup's forehead. His fever was still pretty high. The doctor told Astrid to fetch another barrel of water and find something to feed some to Hiccup with. She dragged over a barrel and found a cup. Stoick took the cup and filled it with some water. He lifted Hiccup's head up slightly and poured some water in his mouth. Hiccup swallowed and choked a little. After he finished the cup, Stoick laid Hiccup back down. He then stroked Hiccup's hair. He had his mother's hair. His color, but her texture. Hiccup was so much like his mother. Stoick was happy about that.

Gobber decided to break the silence. "Hiccup's gonna have a hard time getting used to a fake leg."

"I'm sure he won't have too hard of a time. He's tougher than we think." Stoick said.

"True. But he's young. It's always harder when you're young. I was a few years older than him when I lost my hand. It was not easy. Getting used to my fake leg was a lot easier than getting used to my hand. I'll make him a good prosthetic when we get back to Berk." Gobber told the chief.

Astrid began to fall asleep leaning against some supplies. Everyone on the ship was silent. It was hard to stay awake. She let sleep overcome her. She dreamed about the battle. In her dream, they called it the battle of Red Death. That is what they would call it from now on.

The sun began to come up and the vikings could finally see. That was a good thing, considering Toothless was falling asleep where he was sitting. The viking who was steering sent the dragon to go sleep somewhere else. They could make their way home now without Toothless' help. He got up and walked over to where Hiccup was sleeping. The doctor was still awake surprisingly. He saw Astrid a few feet away sleeping. Stoick was also asleep. He was sitting next to Hiccup with Hiccup's hand in his. 'Maybe I'm wrong.' Toothless thought to himself. 'Maybe this man does care about Hiccup.' Toothless then laid down on the other side of Hiccup and fell asleep.

The sun was fully in the sky when Stoick woke up. A bunch of the vikings were still sleeping. There were two others that were awake steering and keeping a lookout. Even though the battle is finally over, you never know what could attack you.

Stoick looked at Hiccup. He was still very pale. The doctor had fallen asleep, so Stoick took a look at the wrappings on his leg. They would need to be changed soon. Hiccup's fever was still there, but it wasn't as bad as it was a few hours ago. He fed Hiccup more water and then went to the front of the ship.

"Are we close?" He asked the viking who was steering.

"Very. We should be there by this afternoon." The viking responded. Stoick liked that answer. He kept a lookout with the other vikings.

Astrid and the doctor woke up a little while later. The doctor changed the wrappings on Hiccup's leg while Astrid got up and looked around. They were close to Berk and she knew it. Thank Odin. She didn't like how long this was taking.

A few hours later, they spotted Berk. Stoick was relieved and Astrid was ecstatic. They crashed onto the land and were greeted by the vikings who stayed behind. They were shocked when they saw Stoick carrying Hiccup off of the boat. They were more shocked when they saw Toothless walk off of the boat right next to them. Stoick, Gobber and the doctor all brought Hiccup to Stoick's house while Astrid stayed behind and told the vikings what happened and why they shouldn't be afraid of the Night Fury. It was difficult to explain and she knew that it would take a while for them to fully understand and believe what actually happened. When she was finished explaining, she ran to the Haddock house where Hiccup was. When she walked in, she noticed that Hiccup's bed had been moved downstairs next to the fire. Gothi was there now. Gothi always knew exactly what to do.

Astrid stayed out of the way of the healers and Stoick. Gobber went and gathered all of the vikings at the Great Hall to talk to them about what happened. He knew that not all of them would believe Astrid, so he went to make them believe it. Eventually, Astrid's mother came to the Haddock house and told her to come home. Astrid obeyed and told her mother all about the battle on the way home.

"How is he?" Stoick asked Gothi and the doctor after an hour of silence. Gothi burned the end of her staff and used it to draw some pictures on the wooden floors. Stoick couldn't read her drawings, so he left to fetch Gobber. When they got back, Gobber read the pictures.

"She says that he should be alright. Keep giving him water so his fever will go down and keep his leg clean. He has a few broken ribs, but those will heal over time." Gobber read. Stoick was relieved. Gothi was always right. His boy was going to be okay.


	3. Chapter 3

Stoick spent the first couple of days mostly at home with Hiccup. He was afraid that if he left, something would happen. Stoick wanted to be there when he woke up. He wanted to be there so he could help him deal with not having a leg. He knew that Hiccup would freak out once he discovered that his leg was missing.

Gobber has been spending a lot of time at the forge making Hiccup's prosthetic leg. Stoick popped in here and there to see how it was coming along.

"This leg is going to be great. I'm making it so it can hook onto Toothless' saddle. He can use it to open and close Toothless' fake tail. The lad is going to love it." Gobber said one evening.

"Thank you, Gobber. This means a lot to me. He will really appreciate this. He'll appreciate it more knowing that you made it. You've always been here for him when I wasn't and I just wanted to say thank you." Stoick said to his best friend.

"No problem, chief." Gobber replied. " You should go into the room in the back and check it out. That's Hiccup's own little room. I was lookin' through it and saw some pretty neat stuff." Gobber said. Stoick decided to take a look. He had only been back there once, and that was to talk to Hiccup when he was 'doing so well in the ring'.

Stoick had to squeeze his large frame through the door. Once he was in, he realized that there wasn't much space for him to move. It was the perfect size for Hiccup, since he was so small. He saw Hiccup's desk and noticed a bunch of papers scattered about. He picked some up and started looking through them. They were mostly pictures of Toothless. He found some sketches of designs for Toothless' fake tail. Hiccup really had a talent here. Stoick felt bad for not noticing that Hiccup was brilliant. He was all brains, just like his mother. He ended up finding more drawings of other things, like helpful contraptions for shooting down dragons, fishing, and many other things. Stoick was impressed.

Stoick squeezed back out of the room and found Gobber hammering a piece of metal flat.

"So what did ya think?" Gobber asked. Stoick took a moment to reply.

"I never realized just how smart Hiccup is. He's all brains, just like his mother. It's scary just how much of her I see in him, especially now. I should have paid more attention to him." Stoick said. He truly felt bad.

"Well I taught him everything he knows about this kind of stuff. I just never realized that he took everything I taught him and came up with brilliant inventions. He always keeps everything to himself." Gobber said.

"I hardly even know my own child. He has so much potential. Maybe he actually will become chief in the future. He saved everyone here on Berk AND he's the smartest person on this island. Thank Odin. If he didn't become chief, I would have had to make Snotlout chief. That would be a disaster." Stoick said. Gobber agreed. Snotlout only cares about his toughness, not about his people like Hiccup does. Everyone always turned their backs on Hiccup and he still saved them.

"How's the lad doing right now?" Gobber asked as he put more wood in the fire.

"Still the same as before. He still has a fever, but it's going down. His leg is doing better. He sort of twitches and moans every now and then. I just really hope that he can't feel any of the pain." Stoick explained.

"I'm sure he's fine. Hopefully he will wake up when his leg is healed a bit more. That will make everything easier. How are his burns and broken ribs?" Gobber asked.

"The burns are healing nicely. He still has a couple big scratches on his face and his arms that are going to take a while to heal. His ribs are still the same. Those take time to mend." Stoick sighed. " I should get back to the house and check up on him. I've been here for a while now." Stoick said. The two Vikings said their goodbyes and Stoick headed back up to his house. The sun was just starting to set. He could see Spitelout, his younger brother, helping out some of the villagers. Stoick put him in charge while he was taking care of Hiccup. The villagers were all getting used to the dragons being on the island. They decided to build small barns to put the dragons in so they wouldn't try coming into their homes. He saw the younger Vikings smiling. They were happy that they could keep dragons as pets. Their smiles filled Stoick's heart with happiness. All of this happiness and peace was here because of his son. He was proud of that.

Stoick finally reached his house. When he got inside, he noticed that Hiccup still hasn't moved. He decided to load the fire with some more wood. It was getting chilly in the house and he wanted Hiccup to be warm and comfortable. He then made himself some food. He sat alone at the table, lost in his own thoughts.

'There's so much that I need to say when he wakes up. But how do I say it? Should I just apologize? That's not enough. I need to say more than that. How is he going to react to all of this? To his leg? This is going to be rough. Will he forgive me? If he was willing to save his village after the way we treated him, then I'm sure he will forgive me. I hope he does. This is such a mess.' Stoick's thoughts kept whirling around in his head. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Toothless get up and walk over to him. Toothless had been sleeping almost as much as Hiccup. He was also injured pretty badly. It hurt Toothless to open his right wing all the way. He also walked with a limp.

Stoick fed Toothless a couple of fish. He was starting to really like the dragon. He hasn't left Hiccup's side, except to get some food. He knew that his son loved the dragon, so Stoick would do his best to get along with Toothless and take care of him while Hiccup was unable to. He had given Toothless a comfortable place to sleep next to the fire and brought him a barrel full of fish every day. Maybe this would be a great start to showing Hiccup that he was sorry.

Stoick and Toothless finished their food and Toothless went back to his spot. He laid down and went to sleep. Stoick sat in the chair he put next to Hiccup's bed. He felt Hiccup's forehead and noticed that his fever was almost gone. That was a very good thing. He heard a knock on the door. It opened and in walked Gobber. He was holding a weird looking piece of metal.

"I finished Hiccup's leg. I just wanted to make sure it fits." Gobber said. Stoick nodded and Gobber went to the other side of Hiccup's bed. He lifted up the blanket and attached the fake leg. It fit perfectly. He took it back off and set it down on the table in the kitchen.

"Let's wait a little longer until his leg is all healed to put it on." Gobber said. Stoick agreed. He turned back to Hiccup and began running his hand through Hiccup's hair.

"I think I figured out how I'm going to do it." Stoick said to Gobber.

"Do what?" Gobber said as he was helping himself to a drink.

"Apologize to Hiccup." Stoick responded.

"Oh yeah? Tell me." Gobber said.

"When he wakes up, he's going to see that Toothless has been taken care of while he's been out. I'm going to help him with his leg, and then show him the village. He's going to see how much we have changed. I'm going to show him that we all really appreciate what he did. He will be amazed by all of this. Hopefully he will see all of the work we did as a way of saying sorry. I sure hope he will accept our apologies, especially mine." Stoick explained. Gobber thought about it for a minute.

"Sounds like a good plan. He is very forgiving. I'm sure he will appreciate all of this." Gobber said. Stoick was glad that Gobber had said that. Gobber knew Hiccup better than anyone in the village, so he was sure that Gobber was right. Stoick continued to run his fingers through his son's hair.

-Everything sounded muffled. He couldn't even move. He wanted to open his eyes so badly, but he just couldn't. What was going on? He could hear two voices, but he couldn't figure out what they were saying. He could hardly even think. All he knew was that his body really hurt, especially his leg. He could feel something rubbing his head. It was very soothing. He then realized that the two voices he was hearing were his father's and Gobber's. He had no idea what was going on, all he knew was that he was in pain. Hearing their voices actually made him feel safe. He eventually slipped back into his deep slumber.-


	4. Chapter 4

Astrid was a mess. Her mother wouldn't let her go to the chief's house to visit Hiccup because she didn't want Astrid to get in the way of anything. Astrid paced in her room wondering what was going on in the Haddock house.

'Is he okay? Did his leg heal right? Did his fever go away? Is he alive?' These thoughts continuously whirled around in her head. It was driving her crazy. She decided to go to the Haddock house and just ask the chief how Hiccup was doing. She wouldn't stick around. Astrid hoped that her mother wouldn't be angry with her just knocking on their door.

Astrid reached Hiccup's house and knocked on the door. She hoped that she wasn't disturbing anyone. She jumped when the door came swinging opened.

"Hello Astrid. What can I do fer you?" It was Gobber.

"Hi Gobber. I was just wondering how Hiccup was doing." Astrid said.

"The lad is doing okay. He's not sick anymore. His leg is looking better. He's still out, but hopefully not for too much longer." Gobber said. Astrid seemed relieved.

"Did you make him a new leg?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah. It's a good one, too. Come take a look at it." Gobber said. Astrid took a step inside and looked around. Stoick wasn't there. She saw Hiccup on the other side of the room sleeping next to the fire. She felt sad because he kind of looked like he was dead. He still had large cuts on his face.

"Look here, Astrid." Gobber said. "This piece here hooks onto a saddle that I made for Toothless. He can hook it to a peddle that can open Toothless' tail."

Astrid liked it. Gobber was such a genius. Hiccup is going to love it.

"I should get going. My mother doesn't really want me in here, she's afraid I'll get in the way of something." Astrid told Gobber.

"Alright, Astrid. Have a good night." Gobber said. Astrid took one last glance at Hiccup, and then walked out the door.

While Astrid was walking back to her house, she ran into Snotlout. He was helping his father with some work.

"Hey Astrid." Snotlout said. He was trying to look all tough in front of her.

"Hey Snotlout. What's up?" Astrid said.

"Just helping out with some manly work." Snotlout replied, trying to flex his muscles at her.

"Stop that, Snotlout." Astrid said harshly. No matter what Snotlout did, it annoyed her.

"Let me guess, you're falling for Hiccup." Snotlout said, sounding kind of hurt.

"Why don't you get back to work Mr. Manly man." Astrid replied sharply. Snotlout just turned around and walked away. She felt bad for hurting him, but he just wasn't the one for her. Wait, was she falling for Hiccup? He's the runt of the village. But he's amazing… he's so unlike everyone on the island. Oh Gods, she was falling for him. She knew that Hiccup had a crush on her. Should she give it a try?

The thoughts whirled around in her head until she got home. Her mother greeted her and asked her where she was. Astrid replied honestly and her mother wasn't angry. She started to get the feeling that her daughter was in love with the chief's son. She thought it was kind of cute.

Astrid ate some dinner and then went to bed. She just couldn't get Hiccup out of her head. It took her a while to fall asleep, but once she did, she dreamed sweet dreams of her and Hiccup flying in the clouds.


	5. Chapter 5

Stoick was wandering the woods alone. He didn't quite understand how all of this happened. He must have actually shot down the Night Fury on the night of the raid. But where did it land? How did Hiccup make him stick around? Where did he keep him? Stoick hoped that exploring the woods would help answer some of those questions.

He knew that Toothless was missing a tail fin, but he could still run. He could still defend himself. Why didn't he blast Hiccup to pieces? He had an idea. Maybe Hiccup kept Toothless in the cove so he couldn't escape. He continued to walk until he reached the cove.

Hiccup definitely kept him here. There were footprints everywhere, both dragon and tiny human footprints. There were burn marks on the ground and on the rocks. There was even an empty barrel used to store fish. So that's where all of the fish were disappearing to…

Toothless must have landed in here. Hiccup went looking for him on the night he shot him down and found him here. Somehow he approached the Night Fury without getting blasted. How? Stoick kept realizing that Hiccup was smarter than everyone thought. Just look at what he was capable of doing... He trained a dragon that no one has ever seen before and then took down that monster. What did Astrid call it? Red Death? That seemed like a good name for it. He then brought peace between the dragons and the Vikings. How incredible.

Stoick sat in the cove for a while, just thinking. When the sun began to go down, he decided to head back home to check on Hiccup. He left Gobber in charge so he could clear his head a bit. He's sure that Gobber has everything under control.

Stoick turned out to be right. Gobber had everything under control. It was quiet in the house when he returned. Hiccup was no different and Gobber was carving something out of wood with is hook.

"How'd yer walk go? Clear ya head?" Gobber asked.

"A bit. Hiccup kept the beast in the cove. He's been feeding him a bunch of fish. That's where all of the fish were disappearing to." Stoick explained.

"So that's how he tamed Toothless?" Gobber asked.

"I'm not sure. I have so many questions to ask him when he wakes up." Stoick said.

"Well I'm sure he will be glad to answer them." Gobber said. Stoick sat down at the table and had a drink with his best friend. After a while, Gobber said that he was going to go home. The sun was down and it was time for bed for the both of them. They said their goodbyes and Gobber headed home. Stoick took the time to check on Hiccup's leg. It looked so much better than before. Skin was starting to heal over the stump and the swelling went down. The wrappings needed to be changed, though. Stoick got right to that. Next, Stoick lifted up Hiccup's shirt and checked on his ribs. He had broken 3 of them. Stoick gently pressed down around Hiccup's ribs and noticed that it was still a little swollen. He knew that ribs took a while to heal. Hiccup would be in pain for a while because of those. Stoick fed Hiccup some water and decided to go to sleep. He had slept in the chair next to Hiccup's bed since they got home. He didn't want to be away from Hiccup in case something happened to him. Stoick debated whether or not he should sleep in his room tonight. He decided against that and took his seat in the chair next to Hiccup. After a while, he fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

The sound of a dragon outside awoke Stoick instantly. He jumped out of the chair he was sleeping in and grabbed his sword. Then, he saw Toothless. He then remembered everything and put his sword down. Stoick had spent his whole life battling dragons so when he hears one, his first instinct is to attack it. He needs to break that habit.

Toothless was staring at the chief. Stoick had startled him. Stoick apologized to the dragon and then checked on Hiccup. He was still the same.

Stoick ate some food and went outside. What a beautiful day! It was so warm… which was weird since winter was on its way.

He looked at his village. Everyone looked so happy. Children were laughing and playing with some Terrible Terrors. They're not so terrible anymore. He saw Fishlegs and his Gronckle fly over him. The Gronckle was carrying a large net filled with fish. That made Stoick very happy. That just saved him 2 days of work.

Stoick spotted a few men trying to fix up a barn. A heavy dragon landed on it and fell right through it. Stoick decided to go over and help. He was greeted by the men and they asked how Hiccup was doing. Stoick informed them that he is doing much better, but he's still asleep. The men were glad to hear that he was doing well.

Gobber came out of the forge with some nails that he had to make.

"Ey Stoick. Nice to see you out and about." Gobber greeted his chief.

"It's such a nice day. How could I possibly sit in my house and miss this?" Stoick said to his best friend. They both laughed.

"I've been having to spend so much time at the forge making nails and tools. There's been so much building going on that we're running out of everything. I could really use my apprentice to help me out." Gobber said.

"Hopefully he will be up soon. He's looking much better." Stoick told Gobber.

"Glad to hear." Gobber said. He really missed Hiccup. He loved the kid as if he was his own. He was just as hurt as Stoick was when Hiccup first lost his leg and wouldn't wake up. Gobber has been with Hiccup since he was 4 years old. He has taught Hiccup so much over the years. He knew him like the back of his real hand.

Gobber went back to the forge to grab more nails while Stoick began to help the men with the barn. They all talked about the battle of Red Death. They also talked about other things that should be built on the island for the dragons to give them a place to stay. Someone mentioned the dragon ring, but Stoick wasn't too sure about that.

(In the Haddock house)

Toothless woke up from his nap. His wings weren't very sore anymore. He opened them up and stretched them. He ended up knocking some stuff over. Oops.

Stoick had fed him some fish earlier, but he was still hungry. He couldn't find any food, so he decided to go bother Hiccup. Toothless wanted his rider to wake up now so they could go flying and get some food.

Toothless cooed at Hiccup, but there was no response. He nudged Hiccup with his nose. His eyes began to open. He was waking up! Hiccup slowly opened his eyes and saw Toothless.

"Hey Toothless." Hiccup said in a weak voice. Toothless got excited. "I'm happy to see you too, bud."

Toothless got a bit too excited and stomped right on Hiccup's stomach by accident.

"AWWW!" Hiccup yelled. His ribs hurt very badly. Then, he looked around. Wait, why was Toothless in his house?

"You're in my house? You're in my house! Does my dad know that you're here?" Toothless was still excited and he began to run around and knock everything over. Hiccup tried to get Toothless to stop, but he wouldn't. He went to get out of his bed when he realized that something else wasn't right. He lifted up his blanket and saw that his left leg was missing. In its place was a metal leg. Hiccup didn't know what to think. Toothless came over and sniffed Hiccup's fake leg. He had watched Stoick and Gobber put it on Hiccup a few days ago. He hoped it wasn't hurting his rider.

Hiccup seemed a little nervous about the leg. He had seen how Gobber walked with his peg leg and it's not always easy. All Hiccup could do was to get used to it because his leg was never coming back.

Hiccup tried standing up, but he fell over. His leg really hurt. Toothless caught him. "Thanks bud." Hiccup said to him. He used Toothless to keep himself balanced. They walked over to the door and opened it. Right as Hiccup opened it, a Monstrous Nightmare shot a fire ball. Hiccup slammed the door shut.

"Stay here." Hiccup ordered Toothless. Hiccup opened the door again and heard Snotlout yelling while riding the Monstrous Nightmare. 'People were riding the dragons. People were riding the dragons! Were they all getting along? No one's fighting!' These thoughts ran through Hiccup's mind. He was blown away. Could this really be happening?

(Back to Stoick)

Stoick and the others were nearly finished patching up the barn. One of the men got Stoick's attention.

"Hey, Stoick. Someone just opened and closed the door to your house." said the Viking. The Vikings hoped it was Hiccup so their chief would finally get out of the slump he has been in lately. Stoick and the others looked up at the house and saw the door slowly open again. A small body took a step outside and looked around. It was Hiccup. Stoick's boy was alright.

Stoick ran up the hill to his house to greet Hiccup. Hiccup looked confused and he was limping.

"I knew it, I'm dead." Hiccup said. Stoick heard him and laughed.

"No, but you gave it your best shot. So, what do you think?" Stoick said to his son. The other Vikings noticed that Hiccup was awake and came running up the hill to greet him. Hiccup was shocked. For once, everything appeared to be peaceful. He kept looking at the dragons walking and flying around the island. No one was attacking them. It was great.

"It turns out that all we needed was a little more of this." Stoick pointed to Hiccup.

"You just gestured to all of me." Hiccup said happily. Stoick gave Hiccup a nice smile. He couldn't remember the last time his father had smiled at him like that.

"That bit's my handiwork. With a little Hiccup flare through and in. Do you think it'll work?" Gobber said, happy to see his apprentice up and alive.

"I might make a few tweaks." Hiccup joked. Everyone laughed. Then, something came out and hit Hiccup in the arm.

"That's for scaring me." It was Astrid.

"What, is it always going to be this way?" He was cut off by Astrid pulling him in for a kiss.

"I could get used to it." Hiccup said after the kiss. The Vikings thought it was adorable.

Hiccup was handed a new saddle for Toothless. It was amazing. "Welcome home." said Gobber. Hiccup had never been so happy.

"Night Fury!" Someone yelled. "Get down!" Toothless came running out of the house. He jumped on a few people to get to his rider. Hiccup was glad that he didn't have to keep Toothless a secret anymore.

Then, a bunch of Vikings began asking Hiccup questions. "What happened in the clouds?" "How exactly did you take that beast down?" "How did you lose your leg?" These were the questions that were coming from all over the place.

"ENOUGH!" the chief roared. The Vikings quieted down. "He's been out for 2 weeks. Let him explore the village and eat for Thor's sake. Save the questions for some other time. How about you all get back to work and give my son some space."

The Vikings slowly turned and went back to what they were doing. Their chief was right. Hiccup needed some space. He had to get used to the changes on Berk.

"Let's go to the Great Hall and get you something to eat." Stoick said to Hiccup. Stoick had to help Hiccup walk. It would take a while for him to get used to his new leg.

"How are you feeling?" Stoick asked Hiccup as they were walking.

"Okay I guess. My ribs really hurt and my leg is sore. What happened to it?" Hiccup asked. Stoick took a minute to answer.

"Toothless bit it off. Your leg had teeth marks all around it. He must have done it to grab you. He's not so toothless ya know." Stoick explained. They both giggled. "Why did you name him Toothless?"

"Well, when I first tried to get close to him, I brought a fish. I dropped my knife and kicked it into the water first, because he didn't like that I had it on me. Then he came up to me to eat the fish. He didn't have any teeth. I was confused by that, but then his teeth popped out and he ripped the fish out of my hand and ate it. It was weird. I never saw a dragon do that before. The name Toothless just kind of stuck." Hiccup explained. Stoick nodded. He understood now. Clever.

Hiccup tripped over his fake leg and Stoick caught him before he hit the ground. He could tell that Hiccup was in pain just by the look on his face. Hiccup regained his balance and kept walking.

"You alright?" Stoick asked.

"It's going to take me a while to get used to this thing." Hiccup said looking down at his leg. Stoick really felt bad for Hiccup.

They finally reached the Great Hall. There were a couple of other Vikings there. They greeted Stoick and Hiccup. The Vikings knew that they should keep all of their questions to themselves and let their chief and his son eat.

Hiccup sat down at a table while Stoick grabbed them both some meat. He set the plate down in front of Hiccup and sat opposite him.

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about." Stoick said. Hiccup looked up at his father.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I know I said this before you went up on your dragon and took down that beast, but I want you to know that I mean it. I never realized just how smart you are. I never paid attention when I should have. I owe you so much and I'm willing to do anything to make it up to you."

Hiccup took a moment to let what his father said sink in while he ate some of his food. Stoick waited patiently for Hiccup to respond.

"I forgive you dad." Hiccup finally said. Stoick was surprised. That was easy.

"A lot of things really hurt, like being ignored by you and having you and the village make fun of me when I wasn't around. That's just not right. But I'm willing to forgive you and let all that go because I love you, dad. I saw everything that you did for the dragons. I get that you're trying to make me happy and I really appreciate that. Thanks dad."

Stoick didn't know what to say to that. He was so proud. His son had such a big heart.

"That makes me happy, Hiccup. That's all I want from you. Forgiveness. I messed up and I'm glad that you are willing to forgive me for it. I wouldn't forgive me if I was you. Getting used to these dragons hasn't been easy, but we're all getting there. I actually really like Toothless. We've all been building them places to sleep and to eat and what not. I've been thinking, and I want to give the dragon arena to you. I want you to teach others how to train their dragons there. The only way I will allow these dragons to stay for a long time is if they are properly trained. You are more than qualified for that." Stoick said. Hiccup was blown away. Stoick was giving him the whole dragon arena?

"I don't know what to say! Thanks dad. There are still a lot of things that I have to learn, but I'll do my best." Hiccup said excitedly.

"You're welcome Hiccup. It's the least I can do for you." Stoick replied. Hiccup couldn't wait to tell Astrid.

Hiccup felt better when they finished eating. He was still in pain, but his stomach finally had some food in it. They left the Great Hall and Hiccup wanted to find Toothless. He found his dragon with Astrid and the other teens. They got his saddle on him and he was ready for Hiccup to ride him. Toothless saw his rider and gave him a toothless smile.

"Hey Hiccup!" the teens said.

"Hey guys. Guess what? My dad gave me the dragon arena! He wants me to train the dragons there. I was thinking about it, and I want all of you to help me. I want to share it with you since you all helped me bring down the queen dragon." Hiccup said to all of them. They were surprised. Their chief just gave him the arena? They never saw that coming.

"We would be honored to help, Hiccup." Astrid said. Hiccup was happy. All of the other teens were excited to help train the dragons.

"Why don't you go take a ride on Toothless? This saddle is pretty cool." Fishlegs said to Hiccup. He looked at Toothless' saddle and figured out how it worked. He had to hook his fake leg to a peddle in order to open his tail fin. That was cool.

"This saddle is amazing. Did Gobber come up with this?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah. He was in the forge for days making it. He's really proud of it." Astrid said. She was glad that Hiccup was happy with it.

"Alright, let's go guys." Hiccup said to the teens. He jumped on and hooked his fake leg to it and tested it out real quick. It worked perfectly. He immediately took off on Toothless. The other teens followed. Toothless was still the fastest of them all, even with a sore wing.

They all soared over the village. The village looked really cool when it was looked at from above. The other Vikings looked up when they heard the teens yelling in excitement while riding their dragons. They liked what they were seeing. Hiccup spotted his father and Gobber looking up at him. They both had smiles on their faces. Hiccup had never felt so happy before. Everything was finally okay.


End file.
